mafia

Noun

• any tightly knit group of trusted associates

• a secret terrorist group in Sicily; originally opposed tyranny but evolved into a criminal organization in the middle of the 19th century

• a crime syndicate in the United States; organized in families; believed to have important relations to the Sicilian Mafia

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  maffia , Mafia , Maffia , Sicilian Mafia , Cosa Nostra